“It’s Been A Long and Frustrating Journey”, Widow of Carjacking Victim Speaks Out

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Joan Nemachemo is numb. The last five years have been the most difficult of her life.

“It’s been a frustrating journey, long, frustrating. A role coaster of emotions,” she says.

Care facilities in Tulsa, Oklahoma and most recently Mitchellville have cared for her husband Mike Wasike after he was brutally attacked during a carjacking in February 2013. The beating left him with severe brain damage.

“That`s not the man I knew. To me, Mike died in 2013 and I have been left with a man who was trapped in in his body unable to do anything for himself,” she says.

Despite the brain damage, Wasike was relatively healthy but his health took a turn for this worst this weekend when he began having trouble breathing. Nurses found him unresponsive Monday morning.

“At 9:30 on Monday, I get a phone call and the woman goes we are doing CPR on Mike. She said if you can come please come and in 15-minutes I there but he was already gone.”

The Medical Examiner’s Office is determining if the death stemmed from his brain injury. If so, they tell the widow that could mean more trouble for the three teenagers convicted of robbery in the incident. Channel 13 reached out to the Polk County Attorney's Office several times by phone and email but did not hear back. Nemachemo say the teens deserve more punishment.

“I think their mission had been accomplished. That was their mission actually. They wanted to kill Mike and now Mike is gone.”

The family hopes to have Wasike buried in his native county of Kenya. A memorial service will take place Saturday January 27th from 9am until 11am at the Imani Family Church at 815 8th Street in West Des Moines.